Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) across the country have launched unique initiatives for the first time this year to woo students who have cracked the entrance exam and help them make an informed choice on which institute and course to choose.
Blogs (IIT-Banaras Hindu University),
an online ‘ ask a question facility’ (IIT-Bombay), Facebook groups (IIT-Kanpur), an Open Day for parents and students to visit the campus (IIT-Gandhinagar) are some of these initiatives, most of which are student-run.

Results of the Joint Entrance Exam-Advanced (JEE Advanced) were announced on Friday and students have time till June 30 to fill in, online, their choice of courses and institutes.

“At last, the IITs are learning what the students and parents always knew, that there is a competition for good students amongst IITs, and unless IITs try to attract students, they won’t get them,” wrote IIT-Kanpur professor Dheeraj Sanghi about these initiatives on his blog.

IIT-Gandhinagar’s Open Day on June 25 is open to the top 4,000 rankers who will be given a chance to see the college for themselves. Around 50 families are expected to visit that day.

“People don’t know what is available and the idea is to show them the campus, let them speak to professors and students and then make a choice," said Rounak Mehta, 19, a third year student helping with this first-time initiative.

Last year the most-preferred IITs among the top 100 rankers were IIT-B and IIT-Delhi. But the younger IITs are trying to make an impression by disseminating information about themselves.

“We aim to help students choose the right courses," said a student helping with the IITBHU page.

"Sometimes, students choose courses based on superficial factors... After converting to an IIT, IIT-BHU is growing at a very fast rate and we want to inform students about the recent developments.”

Students with high ranks tend to opt for computer science or electrical engineering which are the most coveted branches.

“Countless students have fallen bait to the practice of blindly following the cutoffs of the previous years and ended up hating the branch that they choose,” said an appeal on the IIT-B page.

“We hope YOU, the future IITian will make judicious use of this first-time initiative and make an informed choice.”